WELLINGTON, Aug 7 (NNN-RNZ) – New Zealand’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in the Jun 2024 quarter, compared with 4.4 percent last quarter and 3.6 percent in the Jun 2023 quarter, the statistics department Stats NZ said, today.
Unemployment has been increasing since 2022, leaving the current quarter’s unemployment rate the highest since Mar, 2021, said Stats NZ labour market manager, Deb Brunning.
“Recent rises in unemployment align with other economic indicators, including an increasing number of benefit recipients, a decreasing number of job vacancies, and declining GDP (gross domestic product) per capita,” Brunning said.
Over the year, unemployment rose by 33,000 to 143,000, Stats NZ said.
The underutilisation rate, a broad measure of untapped labour market capacity that includes unemployed and underemployed people, along with the potential labour force, was 11.8 percent in the Jun, 2024 quarter, up from 11.2 percent last quarter and 9.9 percent a year ago, it said.
Over the year, the total number of underutilised people rose by 66,000 to 377,000, it added.
Young people accounted for almost half the increase in unemployment and underutilisation between the Jun, 2023 and 2024 quarters, Brunning said.
Annually, the proportion of young people, aged 15 to 24 years, not in employment, education, or training, increased from 11.7 percent to 12.8 percent, statistics show.
In the Jun, 2024 quarter, the annual wage inflation was 4.3 percent, and the average ordinary time hourly earnings rose five percent annually, to 41.52 NZ dollars (24.77 U.S. dollars), Stats NZ said.– NNN-RNZ